Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

With a plan in motion, the news about the drow was spread through Baramore. Panic and fear spread through the citizens. The officials did their best keep everything in order.

***

A dwarf led his comrades further underground. Edgit Hammer stone was the one Lucan trusted this mission to. Lucan had originally met this for shortly after he came to Shadowsweep.

Ed had been in charge of all the mining operations and was the one who helped dig out all the mana crystals.

"We need to keep heading lower. This area might work for temporary housing but it is still too near the surface to build a dwarven city." Ed said.

Oat Lucan's steward followed closely behind. "Does it really need to be so far down? Will it make a difference?"

"Ha, of course it has to be deeper. When we dwarves are too close to the surface it just doesn't feel right. It's harder to fall asleep. It just doesn't sit well. You wouldn't understand you're not a dwarf trust me on this."

"All right whatever you say, I'll follow you." Oar replied.

The two travel deeper and deeper. They made their way through the mine that had already been cleared out. There was no longer any quicksilver in the area, and all the copper had been taken out.

Oar nodded to himself, he was impressed. It had only been a few months since this mine opened but the dwarves had already removed all the ore and dug over a mile down.

As they walked, Edgit Hammer stone, tapped on the stone walls with a tiny mallet. After each tap he would listen to the echo. Just from the sound he could approximate the composition of the stone behind the walls.

They had reached the lowest part of the mine but Ed still hadn't found anywhere he was satisfied with to build the city. Lucan trusted him with this task so he was going to do his best.

*Clink*

Ed noticed something strange about the noise.

*Clink*

After tapping again it sounded like there was a hollow cavity right on the other side of the wall.

The dwarf reached for the large pickaxe hanging on its back.

With one large swing, the pickaxe crashed into the wall. Chunks of stone and slate flew to the sides and a hole was caved into the portion of the wall he struck. Oar moved the torch closer to take a better look and saw what appeared to be a long tunnel going downwards. Ed and Oar looked at each other before proceeding to climb in.

Neither of them were sure how far they were descending downward. They only knew that they used an entire two torchs to reach the bottom.

They were in the bottom of a long shaft. Edgit pulled out his tiny mallet and began tapping the walls again.

*Clunk*

*Clunk*

*Clink*

Edgit stopped when he heard something different.

He tapped the place where the strange noise came from a few more time before he excitedly turned to Oar.

"Step back." The dwarf said.

Oar did as he was told. He stepped back to the opposite wall of the shaft.

Edgit retrieved his pickaxe again and swung towards the spot that sounded different.

*Bang*

A section of the wall over ten feet tall crumbled and turned to dust. Oar moved forward and held his torch up, but neither he nor Ed could see anything ahead. There was only darkness.

Ed went through first, followed by oar. After stepped through the hole, neither of the could see the tunnel walls.

"We must have entered a large cavern, this looks promising." Edgit Hammer stone mumbled to himself.

They walked almost a mile forward before things started to change. Ahead of them was a large pool of water. How large? They didn't know, they stilled needed to test.

Oar took out a bow from his pack while Ed held his torch.

With a little help, he was able to set the arrow on fire. Oar pulled back, aimed upward and let the arrow lose. The flame arrow rose in a gentle arc before level off and descending. They watched the fire fly further in the distance until it can down and exstinghushed in the water.

They still didn't know how big the pool was, but they knew it was definitely big.

Oar and Edgit walked along the edge of the pool and fired out a flaming arrow every few minutes. Each one flew the maximum distance before being exstinghushed in the water.

Oar and Edgit Hammerstone called for help while they kept looking around. It took a little over an hour until a mage worked her way through the empty mine.

Oar waited at the top of the long shaft. Once she found the steward, he led the way down.

Edgit was still wandering around tapping his mallet when they arrived.

Miss Alice the mage had been in Shadowsweep longer than Lucan. Edgit didn't need to worry if she was trusty worthy.

"I heard you needed help. What can I do for you Edgit?" She asked.

"Miss Alice, we would appreciate it if you could light up the surroundings to let us see what we are working with." Edgit asked bashfully while peeking at the beautiful mage from the corner of his eye.

Miss Alice smiled and raised her staff while softly chanting. A ball of light emerged from the tip of her staff, slowly growing. Seconds past as it became larger and larger. With a gently push, the ball of light that resembled a miniature sun began to rise in the air.

Edgit and the others were amazed as they saw the area before them.

Without sublight, the water in the pool looked as black as night. But it wasn't just a pool of water. No, the water stretched as far as the could see. There was no sign of the other side, even with the minitaure sun hanging high in the air.

Edgit was hesitant to even call it a lake, because he had never seen a lake this large. If it weren't for the fact that the water was underground it would be called a sea.

Without any wind, the water was perfectly calm and flat like a piece of glass. It stretched far past where anyone could see.

The group of three walked the bank that Oar and Edgit had already traveled. This time with light.

The bank was a mile wide and three miles long. It was reletivly flat and was a good space.

Edgit began tapping on the large stone walls that rose over a mile high.

"Aye, yes, this is it. This will be the perfect place to build our city."

Edgit nodded approvingly towards that massive stone wall. He had checked and it was all solid stone, there were no dead spaces or weak rock mixed in. They would be able to carve their home from this wall and not have to worry about it crumbling.

"Good, good. This looks great, boss is sure to be happy."

"Mmm, that is right. Lord Quilldrake will be very happy with this."

Miss Alice walked up beside Edgit and patted him on the shoulder. "Do not forget to let Lord Quilldrake know that I helped as well."

"I would never forget Miss Alice. Ah, umm, I mean that I will tell Lord Quilldrake about how you helped."

"He, he, he." Miss Alice laughed while covering her mouth.

***

Sturdy Willow and the people following behind him saw their objective up ahead.

On the tallest hill before the dark territory, stood a fortress.

Sturdy Willow decided to have his people set up camp for the night. After everyone had set up their tents and put food in their stomachs, he gathered them together.

"Everyone, you should all know that this is a contract provided by Lucan. Some of you may have heard that we are doing this to deal with the large population coming from Baramore."

Sturdy looked around, his people were nosing that they understood.

"It is true that Lucan has decided to let them build their own city here. To make sure that they don't get up to anything that would displease him, Lucan has decided that we will be taking this fortress. It is a good position to defend if any large attacks come from the forest of darkness. On top of that, Lucan and his people will have a well fortified position close to their new city. Lucan wants us to take control of the fortress within six days. If we can do it withing five or less, we will all get decent bonuses. You all should know that Lucan is a man of his word. So let head to bed, and in the morning we will work hard and earn some good money."

The group of Willow players cheered. Their were a few who though they had been hired to kill all the Baramore people who came here in order to control the population. They were relieved to find out that they were instead attacking a fortress. This was something they had done many times in the past and were very familiar with. Everyone head to be early to prepare for the exciting day tomorrow.